One southbound lane at the George P. Coleman Memorial Bridge was closed to traffic for several days recently while emergency repairs were made to Route 17 at Yorktown.

Tom Druhot, Williamsburg area construction engineer for the Virginia Department of Transportation, said that a VDOT contractor, Henry S. Branscome, handled the job.

Crews were called to make emergency repairs when a drainage pipe near the left shoulder of Route 17 southbound at Yorktown, close to the Coleman Bridge, collapsed and dropped about 20 feet below the roadway. The left travel lane held, Druhot said, but VDOT did not want to take any chances that the pipe running under the road would not collapse as well.

Crews began the repairs last Wednesday and worked on the left lane of the roadway, followed by work Friday and Saturday on the right lane.

On Monday, crews were doing some pipe repair behind the guard rail near the roadway, Druhot said, and the project was expected to be completed by Tuesday.

All southbound traffic was limited to one lane—at Yorktown and back across the bridge—during the daytime work periods, which were held outside of morning and afternoon rush hours.

The Coleman Bridge carries Route 17 over the York River between Gloucester Point and Yorktown.